Business Plan Template

What is a Business Plan?

A business plan sets out what the business sells, who buys it, why they buy from you rather than anyone else, and what the money does over the next one to three years. Without one, a lender, an investor or a landlord has nothing to assess, and you have no written record of what you expected to happen — so when the numbers come in different, you cannot tell whether the plan was wrong or the execution was.

Founders write one to raise money, but the more common reader is a bank, a franchisor, a commercial landlord assessing a covenant, or a grant panel. Existing businesses write one when they open a second site, add a product line that needs stock finance, or bring in a partner. Plenty are written for nobody but the founder, as a way of checking whether the arithmetic works before the lease is signed. The audience decides the length: a bank wants the numbers and the security, an investor wants the market and the team.

Lenders and support programmes usually publish the format they want, and it differs by country. A US bank following Small Business Administration loan requirements, a UK start-up loan provider, a Canadian development bank, an Australian government business adviser and an Indian bank assessing an MSME or working capital facility each ask for different schedules and different supporting documents. Tax treatment inside the projections differs too — VAT, GST, sales tax and payroll charges all sit differently. Download the funder's own template and checklist before writing, and use their headings rather than a generic set.

A business plan does not create or register anything. It does not incorporate a company, reserve a trading name, secure a licence, or give you any right to trade in a regulated activity. It does not protect the idea either — sending it to someone with no confidentiality agreement in place puts the contents in their hands. And it is not a promise. Projections are estimates, and presenting them to outside investors as assured returns can engage the securities rules where you operate, so take advice before a plan goes out as part of a fundraise.

What to put in a Business Plan

These are the details this template asks for. Anything left blank is marked in red on the preview so you can see what is still missing.

How to write a Business Plan

1. Write the summary last, at the front

   The first page decides whether anyone reads the second. Write it after the numbers are finished, and keep it factual: what you sell, to whom, at what price, what the business has done so far, and what you are asking for. 'A market-leading provider of innovative solutions' tells a reader nothing. 'We fit and service fire doors for two housing associations and need funding for a second van and a fitter' tells them everything.

2. Describe the customer, not the market

   Market size figures are the least useful page in most plans. Replace them with a description of one buyer: their job title, what triggers the purchase, what they use now, what they pay and how you will reach them. 'The global wellness market is worth billions' is not a plan. 'Physiotherapy clinics with two to five practitioners, who currently book by phone, found through the professional association directory' is one you can act on.

3. Show how each sale actually makes money

   Work out the unit: one job, one subscription, one basket. Then write the price, the direct cost, what it costs to win the customer and how often they come back. If the direct cost plus the cost of acquisition is close to the price, the plan needs a different model, not a bigger forecast. Do it before the spreadsheet: a five-year projection built on a unit that loses money loses it faster in year five.

4. Build the forecast from drivers upward

   Start from things you can count — enquiries, conversion rate, average order value, capacity in hours — and let revenue fall out of them. A forecast that starts with a target and works backwards cannot be argued with, so lenders discount it. Include three linked views: profit and loss, monthly cash flow for the first year, and a simple balance sheet. Cash flow decides whether the business survives the wait for payment.

5. State the ask and what it buys

   If the plan supports a funding request, give the amount, the form (loan, overdraft, equity, grant), the term, and a use-of-funds table down to the line: stock, deposit, equipment, three months of salary. Then say what the business will have achieved when the money is spent, expressed as a milestone someone can check. Vague asks get vague answers, and a lender who cannot see where the money goes will secure it against something you own.

Common mistakes

• Copying a sample plan and leaving in another business's numbers or market description, which an experienced reader spots in the first paragraph and takes as a signal that nothing else has been checked.
• Presenting a revenue line that grows smoothly at a fixed percentage every month, which tells the reader the forecast was typed rather than built and invites them to discount every figure below it.
• Leaving out the founder's own salary and the tax on profits, so the cash flow looks comfortable until the first payroll and the first tax bill land together.
• Writing 'we have no competitors', which reads as 'we have not looked' and wastes the one section where you could have explained why customers should switch.
• Sending the plan to prospective investors or partners with no confidentiality agreement and no version control, so an out-of-date set of numbers circulates with your name on it.

Frequently asked questions

This page explains general practice and is not legal advice. Requirements differ between countries and, in some cases, between states — check what applies where the document will be used.

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